


promise me.

by captainpetty



Category: Hockey - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Vancouver Canucks, canucks - Freeform, jake virtanen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24591679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainpetty/pseuds/captainpetty
Relationships: Jake Virtanen x reader
Kudos: 7





	promise me.

You had no idea what you were celebrating, only that Jake had invited you, and you knew that you couldn’t turn him down. His house was filled with people, most that you recognized, and the music was loud as it flowed from the speakers set up in his living room. Everyone around you was smiling and laughing, and those that you knew greeted you as you passed by them. The atmosphere was intoxicating, but there was really only one thing that you wanted, and that was to find your best friend.

It didn’t take you long as you stepped into the kitchen and found him propped against his island, drink in hand, as he was talking with another one of his friends that you knew from outside of the team. Almost immediately his eyes found yours, and a bright smile broke out across his face.

“YN!” He called loudly, lifting his drink in the air to get your attention, as if you weren’t already heading in his direction. “You’re here!”

You could tell that he had already had quite a bit to drink, given the fact that you had texted him less than an hour ago that you would be there and it was clear that he had already forgotten. It didn’t matter though because the smile and excitement were more than enough to have you smiling yourself.

“I had no idea there were going to be this many people,” you commented, as you stepped into Jake’s side and he lifted his arm to drape across your shoulder. He pulled you further into him in a tight side hug but then didn’t let you go immediately afterwards.

“It’s a big night, so we had to go big,” he replied, and even though he didn’t offer an explanation for why it was so big, you went along with it anyways.

“I need a drink,” you sighed, as you scanned the kitchen for where the drinks were set up. You quickly found them over by the fridge, and removed yourself from under Jake’s arm as he went back to the conversation he was having with his friend before you showed up.

There were people laughing and talking everywhere, even in the kitchen, so you soon found yourself caught up in a conversation with Brock and Bo as you bumped into them after filling up your cup. Everyone was in a lively mood, and while no one really seemed to be talking about what the evening was all about, they were all more than happy to be there.

Like most Jake parties, there were plenty of drinking games to participate in, and the music never slowed for even a second. It was like being at a club, but instead of being surrounded by a lot of obnoxious strangers, you were surrounded by your obnoxious friends instead, which was definitely an improvement.

“When did you get so good at this?” Brock teased as you sank the ball into your third cup in a row. He had asked you to be his beer pong partner against Troy and his girlfriend even though you had a historic track record of being terrible, but so far you had managed to hit a cup every single time it was your turn.

“Jake has been making me practice,” you admitted, rolling your eyes dramatically. “He said he can’t have a best friend that doesn’t do well at party games.”

Brock laughed as he lifted his drink to his lips, and when your eyes met his, you could see something in them that made your heart race. It was the same look almost everyone had been giving you anytime Jake got brought up, but you weren’t entirely sure why. It was well known that you and Jake were close, but there was something about the way they were acting about it now that left you uneasy.

“Just shoot, Boeser. It’s your turn. And you’d better make one because I’m not about to be the one carrying this team,” you teased in an attempt to turn the attention away from yourself. It seemed to work as he set his cup down and you went back to the game. Jake didn’t get brought up again, even though the look on Brock’s face lingered in the back of your mind.

After you finished, and won, the game of beer pong, you decided that you were ready to move on to something else. You were nursing a healthy buzz, and you were interested to see what else was going on at the party. There were games going on everywhere, and just as you were watching some people playing a drunken game of ‘Heads Up!’, you felt a hand brush against your back.

“Where have you been? You went to get a drink and then I never saw you again.”

Jake’s voice had you turning your head, and you could see the rosiness of his cheeks, indicating that he had probably just been participating in drinking games of his own. His smile was bright as he looked down at you, and you shrugged as you lifted your cup to your lips.

“I was too busy running the beer pong table downstairs.”

The look on Jake’s face made you laugh, as his eyes went wide.

“But you’re usually my partner,” he protested, and you felt a weird tingling spread across your skin.

“Yeah, well tonight you were too busy playing host and Brock asked me instead,” you replied, taking yet another sip of your drink. You were getting quite a bit of enjoyment out of teasing him, but when the smile didn’t return to his face, you wondered if there really was something else going on.

“I feel betrayed,” he murmured, but then slowly a smirk started to reappear on his lips. “I think you owe me now.”

You rolled your eyes, not entirely willing to humor his ridiculousness, but then he was grabbing your hand and pulling you over to the dining room table where people were playing another drinking game that you weren’t familiar with.

“You’re going to be my partner,” Jake leaned over to whisper in your ear, and you had to take a deep breath to keep yourself from shivering at the way his breath felt against the side of your face. You didn’t protest, and once you learned the rules of the game, you were ready to go.

You had no idea how long you had been playing, only that you and Jake were clearly losing, which was made apparent by how drunk the two of you were.

“You used to be good at drinking games!” You laughed, as you were forced to take another drink. Jake giggled as he took a sip of his own drink, his eyes locking on yours.

“Maybe I’m losing on purpose,” he winked, and you felt another chill spread through you.

You had seen Jake flirt before, but you had never been on the receiving end of it. Or at least if you had, you didn’t realize it. However, after the weird looks from some of his teammates, even your drunken mind couldn’t help but wonder if maybe that’s what was happening now. It seemed impossible, but most impossible things seemed to make sense when your brain wasn’t working the way that it should be.

“I know you. You don’t lose on purpose for any reason,” you retorted, and Jake shrugged as he continued to smile. You thought you heard him mutter, ‘that’s what you think’, but it was muffled by his plastic cup as he took another drink.

Once the game was over, you excused yourself to go to the bathroom. The party was slowing down a bit and there wasn’t a line, which you were grateful for. You were taking your time as you were just trying to keep yourself steady, but then as you were washing your hands, you heard a voice outside the bathroom. It was quiet enough in the hallway that you could mostly make out what the person was saying, and you realized that it was more than one person that you knew.

“I genuinely don’t think that she notices,” you heard Jake say, followed by a quick scoff.

“Have you tried just telling her how you feel?” The second person was Brock, and your stomach dropped as you wondered who they were talking about.

“Of course not. It would never work out,” Jake replied, and you felt sadness start to bubble in your chest.

“Why not? You never know until you try.”

There was silence after Brock spoke, and you wondered if maybe they had walked away. You were just about to open the door when you heard a heavy sigh and then Jake started talking again.

“What’s up with you and YN playing beer pong together anyways?”

Brock’s familiar laugh filled the silence, and your stomach lurched again.

“It’s nothing, dude. Don’t worry about it.”

Everything about the conversation had you beyond confused. It was clear that Jake had a thing for someone at the party, and yet you hadn’t seen him talking to any other girls, not that you had been paying much attention in the first place. And was that jealousy in his voice when he asked Brock about your game of beer pong? It couldn’t be. There was absolutely no reason for it.

You waited a couple more seconds, and when you were positive that they were no longer standing outside the bathroom door, you pulled it open to head back to the party. After overhearing Jake and Brock’s conversation, you now felt sick to your stomach and like you were ready to go home. You scanned the room, looking to see if you could figure out the girl that had Jake so hung up, but when you finally spotted him, he was talking to Troy and no one else.

You thought about leaving, but you had actually prepared yourself for staying over if you got too drunk to drive. It wouldn’t have been the first time you crashed at his place, and it had never felt weird before. But now, knowing that he was potentially looking to land a girl that he had been after for a while, you wondered if maybe you should order yourself an Uber.

Deciding almost immediately that leaving did seem like the best idea, you made your way across the room to say goodbye to your friend. You knew that if you just slipped out, he would be upset, and even though you were feeling quite upset yourself, you couldn’t get yourself to do that to him too.

His head lifted when you approached, and another bright smile spread across his lips. It was a sight that had your heart fluttering, even though you wished that it didn’t. You had no idea what was going on with your emotions, but you knew that the sooner you got out of there, the easier it would be to chalk them up to the amount of alcohol you had consumed that night.

“I think I’m going to head out. It’s getting late and I’m tired.”

Once again, the smile dropped from his face and whatever conversation he had been having with Troy was quickly forgotten. He took a step towards you, worry etched on his face as his hands reached out for your own.

“Why? You don’t… you don’t have to leave. You can stay here,” he insisted, but you found yourself shaking your head. Your own smile was gone now, and you were finding it hard to hide exactly how you were feeling.

“I think maybe it’s better that I just get an Uber home.”

Jake’s eyes flickered from you to something behind you, his grip on your hands loosening as he seemed to be caught up in another matter entirely. You swallowed hard as you tried not to let his distracted demeanor get the best of you, but you couldn’t even get yourself to turn around to see who he was looking at. You just assumed it was the girl that he was trying to get up the nerve to talk to, and the thought only caused your mood to tank more.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jake,” you murmured as you dropped his hands and turned to walk away. Your head hung low as you walked, hoping that it hid the raw emotion that was now displayed on your face. You could hear Jake calling your name as you walked, but you didn’t stop, afraid of what you might say or do if you did.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket as you reached the front door, ready to order you a car home, when you felt a hand on your wrist. Your head immediately jerked up to see who it was, and your heart dropped when you saw Jake standing right next to you. He used his hold on your arm to gently pull you to the side so that you weren’t in front of so many prying eyes.

“Please stay,” he whispered, and you squeezed your eyes shut briefly before opening them and shaking your head.

“Jake, I can’t,” you replied, feeling a lump form in your throat. You didn’t want this to happen. You didn’t want any of this to happen. You hadn’t ever considered that someday you might feel this way about your best friend, and it wasn’t something that you were ready to face right now.

Jake sighed, his head swiveling towards the still fairly crowded room before hurrying you down the hallway and making sure that no one was following you. His hand slipped down into yours, squeezing it gently as he turned the corner and then abruptly turned back to face you. There was a frantic look in his eyes as he looked down at you, and you knew that you couldn’t hide your emotions from him anymore. For one reason or another, he wasn’t going to let you go easily, and that meant that you were eventually going to break.

“I heard you talking to Brock outside the bathroom earlier,” you started before he could say anything else. “Whoever the two of you were talking about, you should go for it. You should tell her. And honestly, I don’t think that I should be here when you do. It’s fine, I don’t… I don’t mind going home.”

There was a surprised look on Jake’s face as you shared with him what you had heard, and he went silent for several long seconds. You could see the conflict in his expression as he fought with his thoughts, but then his hand squeezed yours again, and a small smile turned up the edges of his lips.

“Well, if you leave, then how am I supposed to tell her how I feel?”

The question baffled you, but you could tell by the look on his face that you were supposed to understand. Your brain was working slower than usual, but then he took a step closer to you and the haze in your head started to clear.

“What are you… who’s the girl?” You asked, even though your heart was racing with the idea of who it might be. You just couldn’t believe that it would ever be true. Jake took another step closer to you, his free hand finding your other hand and gripping it just as tightly as the first one.

“You’re really going to make me say it out loud, aren’t you? Even after all this time, you still love to see me sweat.” His voice was teasing now as you stepped back into the wall and Jake moved even closer.

“If you’re talking about me, you don’t have to say it,” you found yourself replying. You dropped his hands and allowed them to fall to your hips as your own hands drifted up his arms. You admired his toned biceps with your fingertips, and it took everything in you not to fall apart for him right there in the hallway.

“Promise me,” he breathed. “Promise me that this doesn’t change anything. Promise that you’ll still be my best friend and that this won’t ruin that.”

His tone was laced with worry, and when your eyes lifted back up from his arms to meet his eyes, there was worry found in them as well.

“You’ll always be my person, Jake. Nothing will ever change that.” That much you were sure of.

The answer seemed to calm his worries as he stepped closer, his body now crowding yours against the wall. Having him so close made you feel a number of things, but the biggest one was safety. With his hands on your hips and your arms now wrapped around his shoulders, nothing had ever felt quite so right. It was like his body was made to fit perfectly against your own, and when his lips brushed against yours for the first time, it was like they had been made to kiss you and only you.

The kiss was soft and sweet at first, a small hum of contentment filling your throat as his lips moved seamlessly against your own. Your hands slid up into his hair, tugging on the strands a bit, earning a small gasp from Jake, immediately followed by his body pressing harder against your own. The kiss became hungrier- needier- after that, and it wasn’t long before he was lowering his hands to the back of your thighs so that he could lift you into the air.

“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamt about this exact moment,” Jake admitted as he pulled his mouth away from your own and set to work placing scorching kisses against your neck and collarbone. “I never thought I’d actually get the chance.”

You were just about to reply when his lips found the sweet spot on your neck, and the only thing that came out of your mouth was a breathy moan. The sound only spurred him on, as he continued trying to elicit any sounds he could from you, and you knew that there was no doubt going to be marks to show for it the next day.

The quick and sudden transition that your friendship had just taken was an unexpected one, but not one that you regretted in the slightest. In fact, it didn’t even really feel like a transition at all. It was more just the trajectory of your story finally reaching the point that it had always meant to reach. The two of you were together, and in the end, that was all that mattered.


End file.
